Overview of our Grants and Programs

The Maine Justice Foundation is a foundation that manages funds and builds endowments from which grants are made to support civil legal aid in the State of Maine. MJF relies on gifts and donations to fund the various groups that are committed to providing low-income Mainers with the kind of legal representation and guidance they deserve. With your commitment to justice and your charitable investment through the Maine Justice Foundation, we can increase funding to those programs that directly help those most in need of legal aid—the most needy residents of Maine.

Grants

IOLTA – Committed to civil legal aid for over 30 years

In the mid 1980s, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court created Maine's IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts) program and entrusted the Foundation with its operation. IOLTA is a unique and innovative way to increase access to justice for individuals and families living in poverty and to improve our justice system. Without taxing the public, and at no cost to lawyers or their clients, interest from lawyers’ trust accounts is pooled to provide civil legal aid to the poor and support improvements to the justice system. Elders, immigrants, abused women and children, and many others get help with pressing legal needs.

Over $26 million for civil legal aid

Over the last 30 years, the Maine Justice Foundation has managed over $26 million of IOLTA funds which provide annual operating funds to six core providers of civil legal aid for low-income and vulnerable Mainers: The University of Maine School of Law Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Legal Services for the Elderly, Maine Equal Justice Partners, Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and Volunteer Lawyers Project.

The amount of IOLTA income depends on interest rates paid on the accounts. When rates drop and stay low, as they have from the beginning of 2008 to the present, IOLTA revenue declines. Many IOLTA programs have been forced to reduce grants to legal aid providers, in many cases, by large percentages. Though the effects of the historically low interest rates will be felt for some time, these rates tend to be cyclical. To offset revenue declines, IOLTA programs throughout the country negotiate with financial institutions to reduce service charges and increase interest rates on IOLTA accounts. Working with banks and attorneys helps ensure that IOLTA generates as much funding as possible in order to provide legal aid for those who have nowhere else to turn.

LGBT Justice Fund

Imagine having your home, your health benefits or even your children taken away. You feel helpless. You don’t know what to do or where to turn for help. Now imagine you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Your situation just became more difficult and more risky. And if you don’t the income to get legal representation, you are left with virtually no place to turn.

The movement for full equality for LGBT people has made incredible progress. But there are still many threats to the laws that protect LGBT Mainers. We have to make sure that every LGBT person has access to justice. From domestic violence and custody battles to evictions and restraining orders, Americans have no Constitutional right to a lawyer. For LGBT people, who suffer disproportionately from poverty, the need for a lawyer can be acute.

In 2016, attorney Bill Robitzek set up the LGBT Justice Fund at the Maine Justice Foundation. Our goal is to provide funding for nonprofits that address the civil legal needs of low-income and vulnerable LGBT Mainers, now and permanently.

ESO Endowment

This important fund was established in 2011 by an anonymous donor who dedicated it to providing support for people in need of legal assistance in Washington and Hancock counties. The donor wanted to keep families safe and healthy, help the elderly with their needs and make sure children have the opportunities they deserve.

Bank of America Settlement Funds

IOLTA programs throughout the country received donations from the Bank of America under a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to be used by legal aid organizations for foreclosure prevention legal assistance and community redevelopment legal assistance. The Maine Justice Foundation has received $1.77 million since 2015 under this settlement. These funds are being distributed to Maine’s legal aid organizations through competitive grants.

Programs

Coffin Fellowship

The Coffin Family Law Fellowship provides legal representation in family law matters to clients who have qualified for pro bono assistance through the Volunteer Lawyers Project. Named after Frank M. Coffin, Senior Judge on the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the Project supports attorneys based in the Portland, Maine offices of Pine Tree Legal Assistance. Coffin Fellowship attorneys work for and are based at Pine Tree Legal Assistance’s Portland office for two years and cases are generally limited to Cumberland County. Stipends are competitive with public interest law salaries and a loan repayment assistance program is available for qualifying candidates. Interested candidates should submit a letter of interest, resume, references and a brief legal writing sample. The application deadline is October 12, 2018.

Loan Repayment Assistance Program

The Maine Justice Foundation supports a loan program to assist attorneys interested in public service with repayment of their law school debts. Attorneys must be employed by participating legal service providers. Interested attorneys should check with their employers to confirm participation in the program before applying.

Justice Action Group

The Foundation provides funding to, serves on the Executive Committee of, and functions as the fiscal agent for the Justice Action Group. This is a judge-led coalition of leaders of Maine’s legal community, including state and federal judges, legislative leaders, nonprofit civil legal aid providers, University of Maine’s School of Law, Maine Bar Foundation, the Maine Bar Association, the Maine Trial Lawyers Association, practicing attorneys and others who are passionate about helping all Maine people have access to civil justice.

Maine Civil Legal Services Fund Commission

The Foundation provides in-kind staff support to the Maine Civil Legal Services Fund Commission for the biennial application process, the annual reporting process by grantees, and the annual submittal of these reports to the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary.